Gaming Posts - Page 121

After all of the disappointment Gearbox Software served up with Aliens: Colonial Marines, most gamers would not want to even hear the words "Aliens" and "game" in the same sentence, well, that is, until now.

Alien: Isolation is a completely different step in the Aliens-themed game direction, one that takes the Ridley Scott movie 'Alien', versus James Cameron's 'Aliens'. It's a survival horror game versus a first-person shooter, where you play Ellen Ripley's daughter, Amanda. In Alien: Isolation, there is no shooting, there is no crazy action, it's a survival horror game first and foremost.

Creative Assembly, the studio behind Alien: Isolation, has done some great work on the graphics engine, and especially the lightning - something you can get a taste of in the above videos. Alien: Isolation is due in fall 2014 on the Xbox One, Xbox 360, PS4, PS3 and PC.

Tomb Raider: Definitive Edition will arrive at the end of the month for the next-gen consoles, and below, we have a video which compares the game on the PS3 and PS4.

The game definitely looks better on the PS4, with some added graphical features thanks to the extra grunt inside of Sony's next-generation console. Executive Producer on Tomb Raider, Scot Amos, has said that it's more than just a facelift: "a lot of development work [was] put in to custom craft it for the new platforms."

After looking at the video, the PS4 version definitely looks better, but I still think it looks very low res. Either that, or there's no anti-aliasing used. One would think that with there being nearly a decade between machines, and much more processing grunt, the PS4 version would be running 1080p at 60FPS with the extra "custom craft" for the new platforms.

Team VVV has teased the world with a new 7-minute gameplay tease of its upcoming Project CARS, which includes some commentary from a team member that has been following, and playing the driving game since 2011.

The guy in the video uses a decent racing wheel, and uses a small picture-in-picture which shows off just how the game reacts to the steering wheel. The video shows off the newly released Brands Hatch track, and also includes shots from the first-person perspective, which can look hyper realistic at times.

The game is being played on a high-end PC with all of the graphic bells and whistles cranked to maximum. Of course, this title is still in early development, so it should only get better from here. Project CARS should be released later this year on the Xbox One, PS4, Wii U and PC.

Red Barrels' horror game, Outlast, will be free for PlayStation Plus users when the service debuts next month. It is locked to the PlayStation 4 only, and for PlayStation Plus subscribers obviously.

But, considering there are already a slew of discounted games, and a free copy of BioShock Infinite on offer, how can you skip on this? On Outlast's Facebook page, the news is confirmed, with a post reading: "Outlast will be free in February for all PlayStation Plus users (PS4 only)."

EA announced today that it would be adding a long awaited offline mode to SimCity nearly a year after the games launch. EA originally required the game to have an always online connection to contact EA's authentication servers. This requirement caused many issues with the game launching and rendered it unplayable for many.

The issues with the always online requirement caused many users to call for its removal, but EA refused to budge on the matter, but less than a year later, the company is saying that it will be issuing an update to bring an offline mode to the game. Unfortunately offline mode may have came a little to late as many of us have forgotten about the game entirely.

Now that Nintendo has some strong competition in the console space, its Wii U console will continue its downward spiral, but the same cannot be said for its handheld 3DS console.

The Japanese giant sold over 16 million physical and digital 3DS games in 2013, which represents a massive 45% year-over-year increase in sales. The 3DS family includes the 3DS, 3DS XL and 2DS, and in the US alone, the 3DS family sold over 11.5 million units. We had some great system-sellers in 2013, including the new Pokemon games, and The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds.

This year, the long-awaited Yoshi's New Island will be released, which should have Nintendo fans across the world pressing buttons for months on end.

AMD's Mantle is coming, and when it comes, it should really shake up the performance for Radeon users in Battlefield 4. AMD have said it'll drive 45% more performance in Battlefield 4 when compared to DirectX 11.

AMD said at CES 2014: "It's up to 45% faster than the original version on this same hardware." The big thing we have to take away from this is, if AMD can deliver a 45% performance improvement from Mantle, what is NVIDIA going to do? You can rest assured, as soon as the Mantle update is released, I'll be re-running my SAPPHIRE Radeon R9 290X Tri-X GPUs in CrossFire at 4K, and my triple 1440p setup (4320x2560 and 7680x1440).

CES 2014 - The Oculus Rift isn't ready for the big time yet, and even if it were, there's no AAA first-party games available for it. Well, it looks like the virtual reality outfit is looking to change this in multiple ways.

Oculus VR has told Engadget that it is looking to create lots of content for the Rift, where it will constantly talk with developers on making Rift-related content, but it will also build some content in-house, too. Oculus said: "When we catch on to a nugget that seems like it should become a full experience, we may end up doing it ourselves. We may end up putting it out and working with a third-party studio that does. We've actually started to engage with third-party studios like that through the relations group, the publishing group, as well as our own development."

Hardware and software maker Plextor is showing off a line of new solid state drivers, including the M6e M.2 PCI-e and HHHL PCI-e video card, custom designed for PC gamers and serious users. The SSD has read/write speeds of up to 770/625 MB/s and random read/write speeds of up to 105K/100K IOPS, Plextor proudly boasts.

The drive is available now with storage capacities of 128GB, 256GB, and 512GB, though pricing wasn't released.

"Plextor has built a close relationship with the gaming community, so it is natural that we're the first to provide an SSD that meets its specific needs," said Zhang Yaping, Plextor M6e Product Manager, in a statement. "Modern games push systems to their limits; by getting data from storage to the video card and into RAM fast, even under heavy load, the M6e makes the gameplay experience smoother and better. We've also optimized the M6e to perform smoothly with a large variety of games so it's suitable for use by all types of players."

SSDs can significantly outpace read speeds of traditional HDDs, and are becoming extremely popular among gamers. Plextor isn't the only manufacturer dedicated to flash memory, so there will be great consumer choices in the future.

Gaming hardware company Mad Catz announced the R.A.T. Tournament Edition gaming mouse designed for professional and competitive gamers. An improved Phillips Doppler Laser with up to 8200dpi provides fast response and modified weight provides better performance than the original R.A.T. gaming mouse. Mad Catz also removed the horizontal scroll wheel and increased size of the sniper button, and an adjustable lift-off height calibration for gamers with extremely fast reflexes.

"We launched our original R.A.T. line of gaming mice four years ago, and we're pleased to continue expanding this highly successful range with the announcement of the Tournament Edition model," said Darren Richardson, Mad Catz CEO, in a statement. "The R.A.T. is another example of our ongoing commitment to building high performance hardware for the passionate gaming community."

Mad Catz didn't publicly mention a release date and possible price point, but should be available later this year. The gaming market has a large number of companies vying for a limited market, but Mad Catz always has been known for unique designs on its custom products.